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User profile for user: Luis_Mercado
Luis_Mercado Author
User level: Level 1
46 points

Guide: How to solve Yosemite memory leaks and CPU usage

I post this hoping to help those users who, like me, are experiencing high CPU usage and massive memory leaking with OS X core services and apps, leading to slow performance and battery drain.


I've tried everything mentioned, but found the right combination of steps to follow. I've tried this with seven different Apple computers, including mine, and has worked well so far. I applied this method yesterday to give these process a 24 hour window to fail again, so far everything good.


First step: disconnect any external or secondary monitors, if any is present. The video memory allocation leak can also happen if you have a system with an integrated card, like Intel, with no external monitors attached.


Second step: Shut down your machine and enter Safe Mode (press shift once you turn on your computer again, more info below). Once you're there, fix your disk permissions.


Guide of how to access Safe Mode: OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?


Third step: From Safe Mode turn off your machine again and reset your System Management Controller (SMC). There are different methods, depending on machine, to do this. To know what method applies to yours read the following guide.


Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)


Fourth step: Once your machine completes a full boot after resetting the SMC turn it off again and reset your PRAM (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP, BUT THE PREVIOUS ONES ARE ESSENTIAL FOR THIS ONE TO WORK). The PRAM stores small bits of data that indicate our Apple computer how to interact with the devices connected to it, including monitors and video cards. It also affects software.


To reset it you should hold the OPTION, COMMAND, P and R keys in your keyboard immediately after turning on your machine again.You'll hear the start up chime, continue pressing the keys until the machine boots and the chime starts A SECOND TIME, then release. IF YOUR YOSEMITE INSTALLATION LOCKS UP AT A BLACK SCREEN AFTER THIS, DONT PANIC! It's normal, just turn off your computer and let it boot again.


More info about PRAM: OS X Mavericks: Reset your computer’s PRAM


Voila, reconnect your external displays and enjoy your system.


Message was edited by: Luis_Mercado

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 23, 2014 10:45 AM

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557 replies
User profile for user: Matrixiios
Matrixiios
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jun 7, 2017 2:26 PM in response to Luis_Mercado

I use a mid 2010 13-inch macbook pro ( upgraded to 8gb ram and 250 gb samsung evo 850 ssd). I tried running yosemite and el capitan and had high cpu and ram usage. I mostly use my mac for document editing, presentation and browsing ( a lot of open tabs). Additionally i keep a hd screen plugged in. I have since rolled back to mavericks and it works fine. Will this help? i would like to go back to high sierra or something recent. I have lost access to my photos library and notes sync on icloud.

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User profile for user: stevenhaines
stevenhaines
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 24, 2014 9:40 PM in response to Luis_Mercado

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar!


This fixed the problems I was having with sluggish UI behaviour when the WindowServer process on my elderly MacPro 3,1 (early 2008) started using a lot of CPU after updating to OS X 10.10.


I suspect that it isn't just a simple CPU load problem. Even with Activity Monitor sometimes reporting over 80% CPU use for the WindowServer process, the overall processor load on this machine was still quite low, probably because of the dual quad-core Xeon processors. So WindowServer would only be processor constrained if it could only use one core. I don't know whether that is the case or not.


I had thought that the very modest 512 MB of video RAM on the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT card in the machine might play a part but, since following the instructions and the processor load from WindowServer dropping back to more normal levels, that doesn't seem to be a problem.


It would be interesting if someone familiar with how the WindowServer process works could comment on how it responds under stress. Other system processes such as backup and mds regularly reach or exceed the same level of CPU use without any ill-effect.


I can confirm that, even after the fix, Little Snitch can have a larger impact on WindowServer load than under 10.9. It isn't necessary to disable the network monitor entirely, just the option to 'Show network activity in the menu bar'. As long as the network monitor window is on auto-hide, you only see the spike when you roll over then menu bar icon. Having said that, even with the menu bar display on and WindowServer using more CPU, I didn't notice any sluggishness in practice.


Again, thank you Luis_Mercado

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Guide: How to solve Yosemite memory leaks and CPU usage

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